1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a display-control device, a method of controlling display, and memory medium having a display-control program recorded therein. The present invention particularly relates to a display-control device, a method of controlling display, and memory medium having a display-control program recorded therein which can automatically enlarge or reduce a size of a display area in accordance with provided conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
When there is a need to display information that has a larger size than what can be displayed on a current display area on a screen, a function to change a window size is activated to resize the window, and a function to scroll a window is used for finding a desired portion of the contents and having it displayed within the window.
In a case where a plurality of windows are displayed, a window-manager function is employed to switch an active window and resize the window when there is a need to refer to the displayed contents of an inactive window.
There are several schemes for displaying information larger in size than what can be displayed on a display area. One of such schemes is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 58-7182. According to the scheme of this document, a window area is enlarged when there is a space in a screen as shown in FIG. 1A. Namely, if a blank area 33 exists in addition to a display area 32, the display area 32 is enlarged to cover the entirety of a screen area 31 as shown in FIG. 1B. The enlarged display area is shown as a display area 34. If another display area such as a control area 36 exists when a display area 35 needs to be enlarged as shown in FIG. 1C, however, the display area 35 cannot be enlarged to cover the full screen.
Other schemes are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Applications No. 7-219700 and No. 9-106336. According to the schemes of these documents, a user handles an operation for enlarging a display area, and a new window is displayed to show desired contents. In FIG. 2A, for example, displaying details of a device C is desired. In this case, a mouse operation is performed with respect to the device C (e.g., a click operation on a box representing the device C), so that details of the device C are displayed as shown in FIG. 2B. A further mouse operation may be performed on the displayed details, so that further information (i.e., troubleshooting for a device malfunction in this example) is obtained.
The scheme disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 58-7182 is directed to an enlargement of a display area in a single-window environment. This scheme does not relate to a multi-window environment that is a mainstream software environment at present, and is not the best way to solve the problem in such a multi-window environment.
An automatic enlargement of a display size can be carried out in situations such as shown in FIG. 1A to achieve enlarged display as shown in FIG. 1B. In the situation as shown in FIG. 1C, however, an enlargement of a display size is not possible. Further, no means is provided for a user to specify conditions under which an enlargement/restoration of a display size is carried out.
The schemes disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Applications No. 7-219700 and No. 9-106336 allow a user to perform a mouse operation at a position indicative of desired information and open a new window for displaying the information. This eliminates a need for user operations of resizing/switching a display window at each step, but ends up hiding other windows by opening the new window. When user wishes to display other information or wishes to consult information displayed on other windows, resizing/switching operations are necessary.
Accordingly, there is a need for a display-control scheme that provides a better manipulability for display enlargement operations. In particular, there is a need for providing a display-control device, a method of controlling display, and memory medium having a display-control program recorded therein which can automatically enlarge a display area without an express request from a user when such an enlargement is appropriate, and, also, can automatically restore the original display area when such restoration is proper.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a display-control device, a method of controlling display, and memory medium having a display-control program recorded therein which can satisfy the needs described above.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide a display-control device, a method of controlling display, and memory medium having a display-control program recorded therein which can automatically enlarge a display area without an express request from a user when such an enlargement is appropriate, and, also, can automatically restore the original display area when such restoration is proper.
In order to achieve the above objects according to the present invention, a device for controlling multi-window display on a screen includes a screen-operation detecting unit which detects user screen operations including a user operation of a pointer on the screen. The device further includes a control unit which controls a window to increase an amount of information displayed therein when said screen-operation detecting unit detects a move of the pointer into an area of the window.
In the device as described above, a user operation moving a pointer into an area of a given window is regarded as a request for display enlargement, and the given window is enlarged, or has an increased amount of information displayed therein (e.g., by showing the contents in a reduced size so as to squeeze more information within a constant window size).
Alternatively, the user operation for implicitly requesting display enlargement may be a stay of the pointer inside the window for a predetermined time period, or may be a click on a scroll bar of the window.
Regardless of which one of the user operations described above is defined as a request for display enlargement, the present invention treats a user operation without an express request for display enlargement as an implicit request for display enlargement. Namely, a mouse movement into a window area may indicate the user""s intention to operate the window. To avoid capricious window enlargements as a mouse pointer moves around on the display screen, it may be reasonable to require the mouse pointer to stay inside the display area for more than a predetermined time period before interpreting the mouse movement as the user""s intention to operate the display area. Alternatively, a mouse click on a scroll bar may be interpreted as a request for display enlargement.
Further, the window is restored to its original state (e.g., its original size) when a pointer moves out of the window area or when no user operation is detected for a predetermined time period. Namely, restoration of a window is initiated when there is a sign that the user no longer intends to operate the enlarged window.
In this manner, the present invention automatically enlarges a display area without an express request from a user when such an enlargement is appropriate, and, also, automatically restores the original display area when such restoration is proper.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.